Director Tina Bull has joined the roster of production/post company Humble, which is headed by president/exec producer Eric Berkowitz. Bull began her career on title sequences for the BBC and CH4. Her hands-on design approach meant that she was responsible for all aspects of the job from conception through to compositing, resulting in an in depth knowledge of all aspects of postproduction. This ability to cross her intricate design skills with character development and emotive performance saw Bull's work rapidly move into the commercial world. A former creative director at London-based advertising/design house English & Pockett, Bull honed her skills producing high-end brand identities for a broad range of media and entertainment services and as a result won worldwide Promax Gold Awards four straight years. Her spotmaking credits span such clients as British Airways, P&G, Bendigo Bank, Unilever, Nestle, Yamaha and Neutrogena….Spatial Harmonics Group, a Venice, Calif.-based visual effects/creative content development studio founded last year by creative director/VFX supervisor Wayne England, has named Marie Soto to serve as executive producer. Soto's experience includes senior production and sales roles with Belief Design, Riot and @radical.media. She will manage new business development and sales for Spatial Harmonics Group, which has turned out such recent work as visual effects for the feature film Green Lantern and ad projects for AT&T, Lexus and Toyota's Scion….Postique, a Southfield, Mich.-based division of Grace & Wild, Inc., has brought motion graphics artist Alex Chapman and graphics assistant Jason Martin to its Design Group. Chapman comes over from Root Learning where she worked in both the video & effects editing, and concepting illustration departments. Martin most recently served as multimedia team leader/project manager for Ford Motor Co…..
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More